Terror Threat to Impact Holiday Travel

This week, there will be 46 million people traveling to the United States, and they will witness extra officers, guns, and patrol dogs at every airport, tourist destination and train station all over the country. As per a new poll, almost 83 percent of the registered voters believe that a large scale terror attack will likely take place in the U.S. in the near future.

Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security Secretary, stated that his agency is prepared to face anything. He stated that he always hesitates to rank the threats, but the potential copycat and lone wolf actor is the one that has to be continuously focused on.

The lines at the airports will be long and slow moving. The TSA will handle 25 million passengers this week alone with the improved screenings. As per a tourist Sherry Tropin, they were a little bit aware of the tight security now, and people might be more nervous. But, it is not only the travelers, also the airlines are nervous. Southwest delayed or diverted almost three flights. In a couple of cases, the passengers were afraid as fellow fliers spoke Arabic. On Sunday, three passengers were claimed to act suspiciously on a flight to Los Angeles from Indiana and it forced a diversion to Kansas City.

There were fake bomb threats that redirected three flights from the U.S. to overseas this week. One of the flights was of a Turkish Airlines to Istanbul scheduled for Sunday morning. Also, in New York City, the police held a three hour shooter drill in the subway system. Their drill included an attacker with a suicide vest.

Bill Bratton, the Police Commissioner, stated that they have beefed up their resources, and they will be in a position to deal with a significant number of events that take place sequentially and simultaneously.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that there are no plausible threats in the U.S. Johnson said that this holiday season they urge the public to continue their travel, go the public places, attend public events and know that their folks are doing their job. Moreover, extra security measures have been put in place for the overseas flights.